J. H. Markert

J. H. Markert is a producer, screenwriter, husband, and father of two from Louisville, Kentucky, where he was also a tennis pro for 25 years, before hanging up the racquets for good in 2020. He graduated with a degree in History from the University of Louisville in 1997 and has been writing ever since.

Markert's new novel is The Nightmare Man.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

The title, The Nightmare Man, carries a heavy workload, as it screams what the book is about—which is nightmares! And even more specifically, the book has a villain known as the Nightmare Man. Even Ben Bookman (his last name has a backstory to it too), as a popular best-selling horror novelist, has earned the nickname The Nightmare Man, due to the creepy nature of his novels. This novel is my seventh published novel, but the first under my pen name J.H. Markert, and so far, only one of my titles has kept the original title. But while The Nightmare Man was not my original title, it is very close. My original title was Mr. Dreams and The Nightmare Man, because, as you might guess, there’s also a Mr. Dreams in the story. After discussing with my agent, we decided to title the novel The Hollow when we started pitching it. There’s a creepy mansion in the story (the building is a character in itself) called Blackwood, and the area around it is referred to as Blackwood Hollow. It is also learned in the story that inside the brains of children there is a place called the hollow, where nightmares form. Ultimately, the publisher decided to change it to The Nightmare Man, which I not only liked but was also included in the discussion.

What’s in a name?

One of the two main characters in the novel is Benjamin Bookman. And while Benjamin’s name has no real significance, his last name Bookman does. Only Ben’s younger brother Devon ever called him Benjamin—everyone calls him Ben—but Devon has been missing since he was kidnapped as a boy. The name Bookman, however, even before this book, The Nightmare Man, is released, has been a funny source of contempt for some early readers and reviewers. Some have been downright mad that I named a “novelist” main character something like Bookman. One even stopped reading because she got so annoyed. If that early reader would have finished, she would have learned the origin of Ben Bookman’s name. His great, great, grandfather was the first in a line of child psychiatrists dealing with the nightmares of children. Without too much of a spoiler, the Bookman name, originally from Austria, was Mundt. But because of how Dr. Mundt learned to trap nightmares inside books, he became known as the Book Man. And when, after a certain tragedy, he was forced to flee the country and enter the United States, he took on the new name of Bookman.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

My teenage self would be shocked that I even wrote a book, but then, I hope, would be impressed. My teenage self would also probably ask, what took you so long to write a horror novel? This, because it was horror that got me reading and writing in the first place, although my first 6 novels were historical fiction. That, because I was a history major and the first book I sold was historical, so for years that’s what I continued to write and publish. People find it interesting that until my junior year of high school I hated to read. Couldn’t stand it. It bored me to death. All I wanted to do was sports. And then, after reading The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, my teacher then said, “Okay, enough of the classics. We’re reading Stephen King the rest of the year!” We mostly read his novellas, Four Past Midnight and Different Seasons and the four Richard Bachman books, written under King’s pen name, but my life changed after reading those works. I was like, this is what books can do? This is what stories can be? I fell in love with reading and then eventually started writing, all because a teacher put something in front of me that I wanted to read.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

For me it's easier to write an ending because if I’ve done my job up until that point, the characters and plot should mostly be writing that part of the story. I no doubt change the beginning more than any ending. I write and rewrite the first 50 pages of a book more than any other parts of the story, and it’s not even close. It’s inevitable that as a story develops, the perfect beginning—which is what every writer strives for—is almost always in flux, as I don’t think that perfect beginning can be achieved until it is known definitively how a story will end. I think John Irving always has the best beginnings to a novel, and even more specifically, the best first sentences; and Mr. Irving, of course, has a history of tying in his first sentence to his last.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I sure hope not! I’d like to think I’m a likeable outgoing person, but as far as interesting book characters go, if I put too much of myself into a main character, especially, I fear the reader would get bored. A big part of writing a good character is how they deal with conflict, and often in novels, the more conflict the better, but in real life I try to stay away from conflict as much as possible. Since my characters are all created by me, it would be impossible not to have any connection at all to my personality. If it comes through at all, I think it's mostly through dialogue.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Pictures are big influences on me, for sure, especially with my first 6 historical fiction novels, where on a few occasions it was a picture that spurred an idea. For example, seeing a picture of a dust storm inspired my 4th novel, What Blooms from Dust. Folklore inspired The Nightmare Man. Classical music, as well as seeing Waverly Hills Tuberculosis Sanatorium inspired my first novel, A White Wind Blew. Art, and growing up in an artistic household, in general, inspired my 5th book Midnight at the Tuscany Hotel. While music played a part in inspiring my first novel, and also my most recent novel under my name, Ransom Burning—just finished—music plays a huge part in my writing process. As in, I can’t write without it! Some may find it distracting to have music going when they write, but I need it to help me focus and block out any other possible distraction. The music I listened to the most while writing The Nightmare Man was The Who, Muse, Pearl Jam and Radiohead.

Visit J.H. Markert's website.

--Marshal Zeringue